The Globe Theaterby: Jasmin Shirazian

Thesis: The plays performed at the Globe Theater had a major impact on the world do to the design of the theater, the stage, and the way the plays were set up.

Design of the Theater:

Quote #1: "Its stage occupied the open-air space, with a pit in front for standing viewers. The stage was surrounded by several levels of seating" (Seidel).

Commentary #1: The Globe Theater was one of the first few successful theaters, and with this kind of stage it set the path for many other theaters to make their stage and theater like this, therefor influencing the theater world forever.

Quote #2: "The Globe was round or polygonal on the outside and probably round on the inside"(Seidel).

Commentary #2: One of the other many ways the Globe Theater influenced the modern theater world is through the shape of it! It was round so that more people could hear if they were sitting higher, which many of the rich and privileged did.

Quote #3: "The theater may have held as many as 3,000 spectators"(Siedel).

Commentary #3: How big the theater was is a major reason theaters are so big today. Since many people wanted to watch these plays, the theater is made round and large so more people could fit.

The Stage

Quote #4: " The stage of a public theater was a large platform that projected into the pit. This arrangement allowed the audience to watch from the front and sides. The performers, nearly surrounded by spectators, thus had close contact with most of their audience"(Lander).

Commentary #4: Another way the Globe Theater influenced the modern world was because of it's stage. Although not many theaters have pits surrounding their stages anymore, concerts have adapted the idea instead! Now whenever you go to a concert, there will most always be a pit of screaming teenage girls surrounding the stage!

The Stage of the Globe Theater

Quote #5: "Actors entered and left the stage through two or more doorways at the back of the stage. Behind the doorways were tiring (dressing) rooms. At the rear of the stage, there was a curtained discovery space. Scholars disagree about the details of this feature. But the space could be used to “discover”—that is, reveal—one or two characters by opening the curtains. Characters could also hide there or eavesdrop on conversations among characters up front on the main stage"(Lander).

Commentary #5: The Globe theater's stage had many elaborate things about it, one of them being the curtained discovery place. In many plays these years you will see that we still use this technique, and we still use it whenever we do reenactments of Shakespeare's old plays.

How the Plays Were Set Up

Quote #6: "Unlike most modern dramas, Elizabethan plays did not depend on scenery to indicate the setting (place) of the action. Generally, the setting was unknown to the audience until the characters identified it with a few lines of dialogue" (Lander).

Commentary #6: Even though, like the quote says, most modern dramas do not do this anymore, this still helped shaped current theater by helping us realize how confusing this may have been to the audience and changing our ways.

Commentary #7: The Globe Theater's usage of props is still used to this day in almost every single play! Their idea to continuously use props instead of scenery helped shape the artist minds of today.

Quote #8: "Sound effects had an important part in Elizabethan drama. Trumpet blasts and drum rolls were common. Sometimes unusual sounds were created, such as "the noise of a sea-fight" called for in Antony and Cleopatra. Music also played a vital role" (Lander).

Commentary #8: Even though the plays performed at the Globe Theater did not have much, or any, scenery, they used music and sound effects to help the audience understand what was going on. Most plays today still use sound effects, like horns to represent war calls and ships.

Commentary #9: Yet another way the theater made the plays more interesting was through elaborate costumes. Even now in this day and age we spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on costumes for plays.

Quote #10: "Public theaters gave performances only during daylight hours because they had no artificial lights. Private theaters were smaller, roofed structures. They had candlelight for evening performances" (Lander).

Commentary #10: Considering that the Globe Theater was a public theater, they only performed during daylight. We continue to mostly use public theaters but now we can watch at night too, since we have technology and lights.

Quote #11: "...Shakespeare had written 37 plays" (Anderson).

Commentary: Since the Globe Theater belonged to Shakespeare, one can only believe that 37 individual plays had been performed at the theater. We continue to do reenactments of Shakespeare's plays.

Notecards

i hate this project

built in

Quote:

Shakespeare's company erected the storied Globe Theatre circa 1599 in London's Bankside district. It was one of four major theatres in the area, along with the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope

History:

what the heck happened it

In 1613, the original Globe Theatre burned to the ground when a cannon shot during a performance of Henry VIII ignited the thatched roof of the gallery.

looked like

Looked like

Quote:

The Globe was round or polygonal on the outside and probably round on the inside.

Looked like inside

Quote:

Its stage occupied the open-air space, with a pit in front for standing viewers. The stage was surrounded by several levels of seating.

how many people could fit

Quote:

The theater may have held as many as 3,000 spectators.

plays

what were plays like at the theater

Quote:

The stage of a public theater was a large platform that projected into the pit. This arrangement allowed the audience to watch from the front and sides. The performers, nearly surrounded by spectators, thus had close contact with most of their audience.

Trumpet blasts and drum rolls were common. Sometimes unusual sounds were created, such as "the noise of a sea-fight" called for in Antony and Cleopatra.

lighting

Quote:

Public theaters gave performances only during daylight hours because they had no artificial lights. Private theaters were smaller, roofed structures. They had candlelight for evening performances.

about the stage

Quote:

The stage of a public theater was a large platform that projected into the pit. This arrangement allowed the audience to watch from the front and sides. The performers, nearly surrounded by spectators, thus had close contact with most of their audience.

Actors entered and left the stage through two or more doorways at the back of the stage. Behind the doorways were tiring (dressing) rooms. At the rear of the stage, there was a curtained discovery space. Scholars disagree about the details of this feature. But the space could be used to “discover”—that is, reveal—one or two characters by opening the curtains. Characters could also hide there or eavesdrop on conversations among characters up front on the main stage